Spazzle.NET » Movies

Les galettes de pomme de terre

Katie — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:05:27 +0000

My roommates and I, and Kevin, had a lovely night out yesterday. We started out at Le Relais Odéon, which is a brasserie right by Place Odéon on Boulevard Saint Germain. For those of you who don’t know, Blvd. Saint Germain is the place to see and be seen. It’s hip, it’s trendy, and it’s also absurdly expensive. We decided to brave the high prices, however, to enjoy the excellent weather and the amazing views for people watching. We sat out front, sipped our beverages (I chose a lovely red wine from the Cahors region), and chatted like the posh Parisians do. In fact, we probably could have passed for Parisians, were it not for our lack of cigarettes and our ability to consume the entire container of nuts & pretzels (whereas Parisians never consume such god-awful snacks). It was overall a pleasant experience, but after an hour or so we decided to go somewhere a bit more affordable. We ended up at O’Neil, an Irish pub around the corner from my apartment. We enjoyed their house beer, which they actually brew in the bar. We also met a few nice French guys, who were excited to speak with Americans in French. They bought us a round, and I decided I like French people from outside of Paris; these guys were from Bretagne and Normandie. The bar closed at 2, and because we were all exhausted, we called it a night.

This morning, Kelsey and Jill had plans to go to Marché Raspail in search of sweet potato pies and potato latkes, and I decided to join them. On the short walk over to the beautiful open-air market, we marveled over the warm sunshine and glorious spring weather. When we arrived, we continued to marvel at the beautiful, organic fruits and vegetables, pastries and bread lining the tables and stalls of the lively market. I enjoyed being smiled at by the fishmonger and heckled by the nut man, but what I enjoyed most was my delicious galette de pomme de terre, or potato latke. It was a fried, potato-y piece of deliciousness, complete with cheesy onions. I don’t have much experience in the realm of latkes, but I sure did enjoy this one! I also picked up what I thought was a mini-sweet potato pie, but which ended up being a pumpkin pie…not that I’m complaining, it was still pretty good!

After the market, I ended up falling asleep on the couch for an hour, and I just couldn’t seem to get motivated to do anything. I basked in my laziness, which for me was a nice change. It really is lovely to sit around with nothing important to do on a Sunday afternoon. I eventually meandered over to the Jardin du Luxembourg to get some sunshine and to do some reading, and I stayed for a couple of hours before heading back to the apartment.

Kelsey, Simone and I were all in need of a Matt Damon fix, so we decided to see Green Zone at one of the gazillion nearby cinemas. On the way, we realized that we were a) craving candy and b) candy prices at the theater are absurd. We therefore decided to run into 8àHuit to pick up some candy. I was in the mood for gummy bears, but the closest thing I could find was a pack of Schtroumpfs. Don’t know what a Schtroumpf is? Neither did I, but I learned that it is the French word for Smurf! I mean, smurf isn’t exactly an English word, so I don’t really know where the French get off making up their own word for the little blue guys. Either way, my Schtroumpfs gummies were delicious, and the movie (*cough* Matt Damon) was great. The movie really makes you question a government’s motives for acting a certain way or presenting information in a certain light. A must-see.

Alice au Pays des Merveilles

Katie — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:42:21 +0000

Kelsey and I decided to once again take advantage of the wealth of movie theaters surrounding our apartment, and we went to see Alice au Pays des Merveilles, or Alice in Wonderland today! We saw the matinée, and since we were saving a few euros, we obviously decided to spend some more and see it in 3D! We got the most absurdly large, 3D goggle I have ever seen, and enjoyed the movie quite a lot.

Prior to the movie, I also explored the Easter Markets lining Saint Germain. I purchased the most incredible bread, called brioche du Pâques. It’s basically a brioche that is topped with ginormous sugar crystals, so sweet they would make a grown man cry (?).

Anyways, I have some homework to do before I head off to sleep…just thought I’d let you know about my cinema and culinary adventures. Bonne soirée!

Le cinéma!

Katie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:57:05 +0000

I saw Valentine’s Day, the movie. It was no Love Actually, but it made me smile and kind of wish I were married to Ashton Kutcher (don’t judge). I still can’t get over how many famous people were in the movie.

Also, I’m going to Ireland with Chrissy from Friday to Tuesday, and I’m SO EXCITED. I was originally supposed to be going to Geneva and Oslo, but then Victoria and I decided we wanted to go to Berlin and Munich instead. Unfortunately, Vic has been pretty sick, so she can’t come visit me anymore (I’m so bummed that I don’t even wanna write about it). I then made tentative plans with Nadia to go to Spain, but she realized she had too much to do so that fell through. I thought I was going to be doing something on my own, but then Kelsey suggested I go to Ireland with Chrissy! I think it’s going to work out perfectly…WOOHOO!!! More details to come!